You’ll also want to see to it that there are no buds or blooms on the plant.
Choose Sections to Prune
Decide which areas of the plant you’d like to cut back.
Make Your Cuts
For a quick, light pruning, you don’t even need shears.
Elena Grishina / Getty Images
Cladophyll
The segmented “leaves” of a Christmas cactus are actually stems called cladophylls.
Like leaves, cladophylls photosynthesize light into food for the plant.
Plant cuttings in a well-drained potting mix and put them in a warm place with bright, indirect light.
Keep the soil evenly moist but not soggy.
New growth is a sign that the cutting has rooted.
The same guidelines apply to pruning Thanksgiving cactus and Easter cactus.
Wait until after all blooms have faded but before new growth has begun.
Like Christmas cactus, Thanksgiving cactus flowers in late fall or early winter.
Address the issue, then prune at the right time to promote bushy new growth.
Holiday cacti.University of Minnesota Extension.
Pruning Holiday Cactus.Under the Solano Sun: Seasonal Observations of the UCCE Master Gardeners.
How to prune Christmas cactus plant?AskExtension, USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
